Rogue Squadron 4

    
   

Issues 13-16 "The Warrior Princess"

Released in October, December of 1996, January, February of 1997.

Set in the New Republic Era, ~4 ABY

Written by Micheal A. Stackpole and Scott Tolson

Penciller John Nadeau

Letterer Vickie Williams

Cover Art Mark Harrison

Cover art is OK. Interior art was a bit older looking. A decent story arc, I'd say.

The Rogues herein include Hobbie, Lt. Janson, Dllr Nep, Plourr Ilo, Ibtisam, Nrin Vakil, and Feylis Ardele.

It turns out the kickboxer supreme Plourr Ilo is actually a princess! Her homeworld of Eiattu 6 wants her to come back and rule. It seems her brother is leading an insurrection on the homeworld, attempting to unseat the ruling elites. Plourr ain't got time for parliamentary games or courtly intrigue. She also doesn't believe that the opposition is led by her brother. Trust me. She knows.

Rogue squadron helps out. Plourr's "brother" is in league with the Imps. That never works out well in the end, of course. At the close of the story arc, Plourr is staying on Eiattu while the Rogues move on without her. So long, fare well, we'll all miss you, warrior princess. I have a hunch we'll see you again soon...

The Adventure Continues

Star Wars Adventure Journal, Vol 1, #2 (WEG, May 1994). Another fun read. I like to see the old advertisements in these things (as well as in the Rogue Squadron comic books). Great cover, who wouldn't like to see the rancor?

This issue of the Adventure Journal had more great content: a continuation of the story of the rebellion on Garos IV, an interview with some folks from Dark Horse comics, 3 or 4 good adventures, a nice article on running a Rebel Privateers campaign, a couple of short stories, and some information on Coruscant and the Core Worlds just after the fall of the Emperor. Some good material in here for my imagined Tierfon campaign featuring all fighter pilots a la Rogue Squadron.

A really good value for its original $12 cover price (286 pages of content!). I already have Vol 1, #3 in hand, and will begin reading it soon.

Rogue Squadron 3

    
   

Issues 9-12 "Battleground:Tatooine"

Released in June, July, August, and September of 1996.

Set in the New Republic Era, ~4 ABY

Written by Micheal A. Stackpole and Jan Strnad

Penciller John Nadeau

Letterer Vickie Williams

Cover Art Mark Harrison

Cover art, not as good as the previous 8 issues. Interior art was the newer, more modern look. I like it. The lettering was 'regular comic book': a kind of precise, slightly italicized, all caps font.

Rogues included herein are Captain Wedge Antilles, Lt. Tycho Celchu, Lt. Wes Janson, Elscol Loro, Dllr Nep, Plourr Ilo, and Derek "Hobbie" Klivian.

A good story, in my opinion. The group needs to travel to Tatooine to get involved in the chaos left behind after Jabba was killed. A cache of Imperial weapons is up for grabs. An evil Twi'lek knows where the stuff is located. The Rogues meet up with Huff Darklighter (Biggs' father) who is holding a remembrance party for his son. He doesn't exactly blame Wedge for surviving the trench run instead of his son, but....yeah. He does.

Some Imperial commandos make an appearance, as does Winter. One character is a walking brain aka a B'omarr monk.

Rogue Squadron 2

    
   

Issues 5-8 "The Phantom Affair"

Released in February, March, April, and May of 1996.

Set in the New Republic Era, ~4 ABY

Written by Micheal A. Stackpole and Darko Macan

Penciller Edvin Biukovic and John Nadeau

Letterer Steve Dutro

Cover Art Matthieu Lauffray

To my tastes, the look and feel of the art in this series was better. Less of the olden days of comics gone by and more "modern". The lettering was different throughout; more of a 'hand written' or 'hand drawn' feel, and less precise. Interesting choice. The covers are wonderful. The story was good. To be fair, I am not sure even one character uttered "Stang!".

The Rogues mentioned herein are: Captain Wedge Antilles, Wes Janson, Derek "Hobbie" Klivian, Plourr Ilo, Dllr Nep, and Elscol Loro. Still no Plourr, Dllr, or Elscol pilot cards in the X-Wing Miniatures Game (since my last post, yesterday).

The supply convoy from Cilpar to Mrlsst has gotten through, with the help of the ever resourceful Rogue Squadron. The natives of Mrlsst have some kind of dangerous technology, developed by their university, that both the New Republic and the remnants of the Empire want (trust me, it's dangerous).

Wedge meets up with Mirax "Myra" Terrik while most of the other Rogues go out to see a band. By the way, sorry Mirax, but the Pulsar Skate looks terrible. We learn of Wedge's back story (parents owned a refueling station in space; bandits caused a massive fire which his parents died in while saving the others from certain doom). The main Imperial bad guy has ties to this same incident; and he has a parasite permanently stuck to the left side of his face. Cool! 

A ghostly figure (the Phantom of said affair) keeps assisting the Rogues in their efforts to keep the Empire from obtaining the dangerous tech. The figure is revealed to be the Jedi ghost (!) of Elscol Loro's husband Throm...or at least seems to be. The wookiee Groznik, who transferred his life debt from Throm to Elscol, and made the journey from Cilpar resistance to Rogue Squadron with her, doesn't make it out of this miniseries alive. Sorry.

At the end, the New Republic gets (and uses, once) the nasty new technology, and Rogue Squadron leaves Mrlsst for their next adventure (and to store away the dangerous item in a vault somewhere, I hope).

Rogue Squadron 1

   
   

I just finished purchasing (but not yet finished reading) all 37 the X-Wing: Rogue Squadron comics by Dark Horse. I will be posting a series of brief reviews over the coming days or weeks. I will look at one mini-series per post. First up, issues 1-4, entitled "The Rebel Opposition".

Issues 1-4 "The Rebel Opposition"

Released in July, August, September, and October of 1995.

Set in the New Republic Era, ~4 ABY

Written by Micheal A. Stackpole and Mike Baron

Penciller Alan Nunis

Letterer Steve Dutro

Cover Art Dave Dorman

I found the art to be a bit "old school comic", and not quite to my preference. The covers are wonderful. The story was decent. Many characters used the expletive "Stang!" many times. That was sweet. 

The Rogues mentioned herein are: Wedge Antilles, Tycho Celchu, Wes Janson, Derek "Hobbie" Klivian, Plourr Ilo, Dllr Nep. By the end of the series the Rogues had picked up a native fighter named Elscol Loro as another pilot. She comes with a Wookiee side-kick named Groznik. Plourr, Dllr, and Elscol do not have pilot cards in the X-Wing Miniatures Game (yet).

The action takes place not long after the Battle of Endor. The war isn't over yet, even though the Emperor is dead. On the planet Cilpar, a rebellion of sorts is underway. The Rogues are there to rendezvous with a food convoy headed for Mrlsst. The natives don't much care for either the Rebels or the Empire. Tycho Celchu impersonates an Imperial pilot to infiltrate the Imperial forces on the planet. Ferocious dog-like beasts called ronks prowl the jungle; and one rips a guy's arm off. Don't worry, he deserved it.

Meet the Fleet, part 21

   

   

The Imperial Raider-class corvette. FFG needed an Epic scale ship that reminded us of the wedge shaped Star Destroyers, but they also needed the craft to be smaller than most of the available canon ships. The elegant solution? Work with Lucasfilms to develop a brand-new ship from scratch.

The result is the Raider-class corvette, an anti-starfighter support ship in the Imperial Navy. Combines some key design elements of wedge shape and TIE fighter-like solar panels. Seems like a nice vessel, to me.

Until I pick up the Imperial Veterans expansion (in a day or two?) this is the last of my collection to be shown on Meet the Fleet. I did buy the Ghost expansion when it came out, but I just couldn't get to like the vessel. I have since sold it on eBay. I have seen every episode of Rebels so far, and have a love-hate relationship with the show. More on that in a future post.

Meet the Fleet, part 20

   

   

   

The CR90 Corellian corvette. The first ship to ever appear in Star Wars.

The awesome yellow planet of Tatooine emerges from a total eclipse, her two moons glowing against the darkness. A tiny silver spacecraft, a Rebel Blockade Runner firing lasers from the back of the ship, races through space. It is pursed by a giant Imperial Star Destroyer. Hundreds of deadly laserbolts streak from the Imperial Star Destroyer, causing the main solar fin of the Rebel craft to disintegrate.

INT. REBEL BLOCKADE RUNNER - MAIN PASSAGEWAY

An explosion rocks the ship as two robots, Artoo-Detoo (R2-D2) and See-Threepio (C-3PO) struggle to make their way through the shaking, bouncing passageway.  Both robots are old and battered.  Artoo is a short, claw-armed tripod. His face is a mass of computer lights surrounding a radar eye.  Threepio, on the other hand, is a tall, slender robot of human proportions. He has a gleaming bronze-like metallic surface of an Art Deco design. 

Another blast shakes them as they struggle along their way.

                    THREEPIO

          Did you hear that? They've shut down the main reactor.  We'll be destroyed for sure. This is madness!

Rebel troopers rush past the robots and take up positions in the main passageway. They aim their weapons toward the door.

                    THREEPIO

          We're doomed!

The little R2 unit makes a series of electronic sounds that only another robot could understand.

                    THREEPIO

          There'll be no escape for the Princess this time.

Artoo continues making beeping sounds. Tension mounts as loud metallic latches clank and the scream of heavy equipment are heard moving around the outside hull of the ship.

                    THREEPIO

          What's that?

EXT. SPACECRAFT IN SPACE

The Imperial craft has easily overtaken the Rebel Blockade Runner. The smaller Rebel ship is being drawn into the underside dock of the giant Imperial starship.

INT. REBEL BLOCKADE RUNNER

The nervous Rebel troopers aim their weapons.  Suddenly a tremendous blast opens up a hole in the main passageway and a score of fearsome armored spacesuited stormtroopers make their way into the smoke-filled corridor.  

I love how they did this ship, with one exception: I wish the scale could have been correct. The thing would probably have cost more than 10 times as much and not really fit on the table, so I am OK with the "sliding scale" used for the Epic ships.

A wonderful model, a great paint job (I'll need to add engine glow somehow). This feels properly imposing when on the table with starfighters. Have only played a couple of times with these Epic guys, but I like the ideas of alternate movement templates and energy, etc. It feels cool to loose a turbolaser shot.

Meet the Fleet, part 19

   

   

   

The Gozanti-class cruiser. First seen in a different variant taking off from Mos Espa in Episode I.

We haven't played too much in the way of Epic, so this probably has only seen the table twice. I recall it taking a ferocious beating one time before exploding, so that's cool. I really like the model, the paint job, and the optional TIE docking clamps. Very nicely done.

This variant can carry TIE Fighters, and, according to Star Wars: Rebels, AT-ATs. That would be awesome!

Meet the Fleet, part 18

   

On to the Epic Play ships! The first one is a bit strange, as it has no weapons: the lowly GR-75 Rebel Transport! This thing has some fleet support functions that it can theoretically accomplish during starfighter combat; we haven't played enough to see it happen, however. I like the multi-colored storage containers slung underneath this ship: nice touch, FFG!

INT. REBEL BASE - MAIN HANGAR DECK

Pilots, gunners, and troopers hurry to their stations and their 
vehicles.

    ANNOUNCER
   (over loudspeaker)
  The first transport is away.

Everyone cheers at the announcement, which echoes through the hangar.  
Luke turns and walks on, heading toward his snowspeeder.  His gunner, 
Dack, a fresh-faced, eager kid, is glad to see him.  They climb in.

    DACK
  Feeling all right, sir?

    LUKE
  Just like new, Dack.  How about 
  you?

    DACK
  Right now I feel like I could take 
  on the whole Empire myself.

    LUKE
   (quietly, strapping 
    in)
  I know what you mean.

Old and Good Books

Just finished reading my copy of Star Wars Adventure Journal, Vol.1, #1 (WEG, Feb. 1994). I love these old books, and plan to buy all 15 of them (#2 is en route via eBay). What's not to like? 287 pages filled with old ads, adventures, fiction, and background info. This issue had a couple of nice short stories plus two adventure ideas I wouldn't mind running back to back.

I couldn't quite get into the short story featuring an Ewok member of the Rebel Alliance, however. Novel. Cute. Not quite right for my refined SW tastes. Makes me want to play d6 Star Wars again. Or at least try to re-purpose some of this material for the "modern" game.

Meet the Fleet, part 17

   

Two new (sort of) factions: Resistance and First Order. Subfactions at this point. From The Force Awakens, of course. I was going to ignore these craft, but the T-70 grew on me. I fancy it a more palatable future replacement for the T-65 than the E-wing (which I do not own, and have never liked).

The TIE/fo is cool, too. It has shields! Or shield. Add a pair of TIE/sf when they come out and I should be good to go. Of course, I will be suckered into buying another Falcon (along with Poe's "Black One" T-70).

Meet the Fleet, part 16

   

The rest of the Scum in my collection. A nice hodge-podge of outdated and under-performing craft. Perfect for pirates, low grade bounty hunters, and criminal gangs. I am debating whether to pick up one more "Most Wanted" set, for another Y-wing and two more Z-95s.

Haven't flown any of these small base Scum in combat, yet. I wouldn't mind adding some "Uglies" at some point. I suppose I would have to cobble them together myself.